On a quarterly basis, Wintek’s revenue dropped 18.79 percent to NT$22.86 billion, from NT$28.15 billion in the third quarter.

“Revenues fell short of our expectations because of the rapid shift in technology,” with customers favoring other touch-panel solutions, Wintek spokesman Jay Huang (黃忠傑) said by telephone.

Wintek supplied glass touch panels for earlier versions of Apple Inc’s iPhones and iPads, but the US firm scaled back orders as it opted for new in-cell touch screens for its iPhone 5 and film touch screens for its iPad Mini, rather than Wintek’s one-glass solution.

However, the company’s net profit margin last quarter is expected to improve from the third quarter, when the it posted a second straight quarterly loss of NT$659 million, Huang said.

He added that shipments of OGS touch screens could grow further this quarter, from as many as 4 million units a month at present, boosted by sales of new notebook computers and Ultrabooks.

However, shipments of glass touch panels will continue to slip because of limited demand, he said.